gday..
brief history -- head gasket replaced 15mnths ago due loss of water/overheating, took Ford three goes but was running fine
until about 3months ago and developed an intermittent ticking problem when cold.

On a cold start was 50/50 whether it would tap or not. It went into the shop and mechanics replaced all the lifters. Very next day it was still tapping.
-they did oil pressure test and said at idle its fine,, but running speed its at 20 pound low (rang around different mechanics and they said this is low but tolerable?? visited one who did screwdriver stethiscope and said faulty no.2 lifter still making noise)

anyway, last week or so the latest DEV is that its misfiring (dont know whether right term or not) But on a cold start,, every ten seconds or so its seems to take a deep breath and drop about 200 revs. Its also got a more muffled tap lower down.
Guy who did lifters said that its 175K old motor and bigend or conrods or somthing low down worn and needs rebuild and engine not supplying enough oil to lifters. Car got a service and thicker oil with additives but this didnt make problem go away.

Currently its not losing water or oil but i have noticed a bit of oil dispersed onto block on the exhaust side. see pics.
The fuel consumption seems to be horrendous latley $80-100 a week mobil 6000 PULP, though this could be 60km/round trip to work daily plus fuel price?? dont have a trip and havent logged L/km.

trying to provide as much info as possible because next week im putting on intakes/exh/muffler etc and maybe i should look into fixing engine next rather than more mods.

all/any of your ideas will be very helpful.
thanks

96 ef futura

 

 

Attachments:

File comment: large arrow is behind water pump. Image040aa.jpg [ 65.44 KiB | Viewed 160 times ]

File comment: the oil starts from behind the water pump area and seems to run down the block/sump gasket seem. Is this a slow leak or normal? uggh Image042aa.jpg [ 57.98 KiB | Viewed 150 times ]

Last edited by rdiigen on Fri Nov 09, 2007 9:34 am, edited 1 time in total.

mm ticking could be the bearings..

but maybe be the injectors!
and most cars with OHV and lifters will tick for a few mins when cold as the oil has drained out of the lifters and they need to pump up again

with the low oil pressure u may need a new oil pump rather than thicker oil

For a missfire go over teh plugs leads etc

Hmm get the cam angle sensor checked if the leads and plugs dont help. I replaced leads and plugs yet still had a small missfire now and then, turned out the cam angle sensor was dying (Is best to get it checked by a mechanic) fuel consumtion could be vac hose loose, map sensor rooted or even a oxy sensor.

mine had a tick and a strange missfire when cold even with new lifters turned out the spring retainer on on valve had slipped

I think this has got a bit worse today, had a unexpected quick fluctuation of about 1000revs (only once, and during braking)

On startup i noticed small droplets coming from the join at the end of the cat converter/muffler. I noticed that both of these bolts were loose so I tightened them up and it still leaked a few drops (black oily spots in this water) .. This is definately from when i knocked the exhaust on a jutting bit of concrete entering a carwash a couple weeks back. (the joys of lowered susp)

If air is escaping from here can it cause this inconsistent idle?

Can a dead cat converter cause this as well??? I have given it some work over the past couple of months and I may have killed it? can you kill a stock cat or are they durable?

or maybe just my oil pressure prob getting worse

need some opinions please.

I am now starting to lose water and this is a bad sign. Had loss of water problems last year and then 3 or 4 head gaskets followed.

Why am I going through so many head Gaskets? It is blowing a bit of white smoke on cold startup and that OIL leak pictured above seems to be getting worse (noticeable drips on garage floor). I've read elsewhere alot of people have trouble around that number 1 cylinder which is where this is (exhaust side)

I dont have a misfire but the poor idle was fixed by doing an idle reset, it idled and ran great for a couple of days but ECU or something has changed again and starting to idle poorly again.



thankscya

did you get the head faced after each head gasket change? maybe the head is slightly warped and its creating problems...

yeam im thinking valves allso if the oil leak is unrelated, i had a broken spring (lost tension) on my last EA its noisy and causes alot of power issues and only gets worse.

the incosisntant idle could be the ecu trying to adapt with an unknown problem with the engine or just a simple inlet manifold vacuum leak like a loose hose. a vac guage is the easiest way to tell and will effect the map sensor.

in short the cat leak wont matter to the engine unless you smashed it hard and have a pipe restriction "wich could blowout a soft head gasket."

there are many different ways and opinions to find faults like these, having a mechanic who knows what he is doing helps big time.

edit. what type of head gasket was used? most people recommend only replacing with a steel AU gasket, especialy for high horsepower engines.